


A Fine Start (Gettin' By)

by Sir_Bedevere



Series: Invitations [3]
Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: Drinking & Talking, F/M, Honest Talk, It's hard being a god, Making Up, Reconciliation, for once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-13 06:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18934978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sir_Bedevere/pseuds/Sir_Bedevere
Summary: It’s the summer after. The one after the girl and the poet. The one after what felt like the whole world might be comin’ to an end. And Persephone is on her way to a party.





	A Fine Start (Gettin' By)

It took Persephone way too long – like way too long – to figure out that the reason Pa always seemed to throw a party at the start of summer was nothin’ to do with the season at all. Took her way to long to figure out it was because of her. 

Well, it _wasn’t_. It was cos of Hades. Pa was rubbing it in his face, that Persephone had come back up top and Hades was still lurkin’ down below. Well, the jokes were on Pa, cos Hades didn’t give a damn what was goin’ on up top. 

Least, that’s what Persephone always thought. 

It’s the summer after. The one after the girl and the poet. The one after what felt like the whole world might be comin’ to an end. And Persephone is on her way to a party.

Ma has been quiet, these past couple of weeks, but then Persephone reckons that she has been mighty quiet too. Gotta be quiet, when there’s a lot of thinkin’ to be done. Ma’s an irritation, like a mayfly buzzin’ in your ear, but she’s always been good enough at knowin’ what’s in Persephone’s head. That’s at least half the reason that she finally let Persephone go. Persephone never resented how hard Ma made it at the start. Can’t go holdin’ grudges for that long anyway, and she knows Ma had her reasons. She’s not best friends with Hades now, but things have cooled down. They always do with Hades, in the end. The king of goddamn cool. 

“Hermes ain’t comin’ today,” Persephone says, at the end of Pa’s walk. “Say’s he’s coolin’ his heels with Hera. What happened?”

Ma grins, and the wrinkles at the sides of her eyes scrunch up. She’s so beautiful, ‘specially with the old lady lines on her face, and Persephone thinks that she don’t reckon she’ll ever be as beautiful as Ma. Her skin will never be quite as nut brown, what with being down below so many months of the year. 

“Long story,” Ma says. “Too long for now. But you know how your father is, and the trouble he can get your brother into.”

Hera is mostly bark these days, so Persephone ain’t worried what might be comin’ Hermes’ way. He’s whip-smart anyway, and can stay out of trouble. Ain’t no other god she knows who is smarter except for Athena. She used to think that Hades was smart too, and though he still got a lotta brain compared to some of them, she’s seen the truth now. She knows what that big dumb idiot has been trying to do, knows that he’d have kept on doing dumb shit if the poet hadn’t come. All to get her to see him. Like she wouldn’t have done that anyway, if only he’d asked. 

Not that she ain’t guilty, she knows. She’s been a dumb idiot too. Ma told her as much, when she stepped off the train a few weeks ago, weepin’ into Hermes’ shoulder. 

“So which one is it?” Ma had asked, pulling her hand away to look her in eye. “You left him for good, or you finally thinkin’ with your brain?”

“Thinkin’ with my brain, I reckon. Reckon it’s okay, Ma.”

“You’re an idiot, girl. I reckon it’s always been okay.”

Of course, Ma is right. 

So it’s been a quiet few weeks. Persephone has been lickin’ her wounds and thinking about her dumb idiot, and the way he held her hand on the way to the station for the first time in forever. And she’s been wishin’ that by the time she goes back next, he’ll have got rid of some of his stupid shit. 

“Gonna be a dull party for you, with no Hermes,” Ma says, taking her arm. 

“Nah. Aunt Hestia will be here. I can keep plenty busy.”

The walk has been decorated with fresh flowers, rows and rows, and they walk slow, admiring the fruits of their labours. Up near the porch, Persephone spots some red carnations, woven around the rails. She smiles and pulls one down, tucks it behind her ear. 

“How’d I look?”

Ma reaches up and straightens it, and her eyes are wet. 

“Mighty. And beautiful.”

Persephone kisses her cheek. Through it all, Ma has always been on her side. 

Pa’s lurkin’ near the gate when they go round back, and he grabs Persephone’s hand, He’s tall like Hades and she has to look up to meet his eye, which she resents a little with him in a way that she never has with her husband. Unlike Hades and Ma, Pa ain’t wearin’ his years so gracefully on his face. 

“Good to have you back up,” he says, same as he says every year, like he’d even notice if she was there or not. “Everythin’ alright down below?”

“Sure,” she says, cos it’s easier to give Pa what he thinks he wants. “Good to see ya too.”

It’s busier than usual back in the yard, but the summer party is usually a pretty good one. Can’t blame the nymphs and the satyrs for makin’ the most of Zeus’ generosity. They don’t care that the only reason he’ll have ‘em around is cos he’s tryin’ to make sure that Hades knows about it. 

Persephone finds Aunt Hes in one of the big chairs by the fire pit, and throws herself down in the other one. Aunt Hes hands her a big glass of something yellow and fragrant. 

“How you doin’, girl?”

Persephone rolls her head and sips at the drink. No poison in it, but still nice. She puts her feet towards the fire pit and wonders if she wouldn’t rather be cold. 

“Fine,” she says.

“Something different about you.”

“Don’t reckon so.”

“Uh huh.”

They sit quietly for a while and Persephone watches the family and the hangers-on swirling around them. Pa’s got someone to hang lanterns all around the yard, flower shaped ones, and it does look nice. It all seems very calm, for a family gathering, like something has changed. Even Ares ain’t blundering around, causin’ trouble. But then Persephone wonders if she is the one that has changed, rather than them. It has been a hell of a forever. 

“I heard my little brother’s been up to some nonsense.”

Auntie Hes ain’t lettin’ it go. She has her head leaned back on the chair, her eyes closed, looking for all the world like she hasn’t even said a word. 

“Maybe. But it’s sorted now.”

“Good. Cos I’d hate to have to pull him up here and make an example.”

Persephone chuckles. Auntie Hes plays it cool, but she’s the only one that none of her brothers have ever messed with. 

“Thought I’d lost him,” Persephone says, glancin’ around to check no one is hovering. “For real.”

It hurts even to say it out loud. They’ve been so good at hurtin’ each other that she didn’t think there was much either of ‘em could do to make it worse. But here she is, still hurtin’ over him. 

Auntie Hes nods. Hermes has definitely been shooting his mouth off, for her to know so much about it. She props her sunglasses up on her head, and puts her feet up under her skirts. 

“Hades always been a hard one to love. Back when we were kids, he was always my favourite. Still is. But he’d fight ya at every chance he got. Just tryin’ to prove something to himself or to Zeus or to Pozzy, but none of us ever knew exactly what. Least of all him.”

Persephone has heard all of this before, from Ma, from Hera, from Auntie Hes – how hard Hades is to love. But she’s been married to him now longer than he was ever their little brother, and she knows him. She knows why he fights and pushes things away a minute after he’s pulled ‘em close. It’s always been a test. Cos he’s never for once in his big dumb head believed that anyone could love him. Not truly. Has he ever dared to take a chance on anything?

_“Took a chance on you, lover.”_

His voice echoes in her head as loud as if he’s standing right behind her, and Persephone near falls out of the chair. She jumps to her feet, lookin’ all around. Auntie Hes is sayin’ something, but Persephone doesn’t hear her, cos by then she’s off through the crowd.

It’s madness, she knows, to be looking. It’s just a memory, something he must have said to her once, but the longer she looks, the more certain she is that he’s here. Somewhere close by. Up top. In the summer. 

_Why?_

No one seems to pay any notice to her, all too far into the drink, or busy making the most of the extra guests. Uncle P has a crowd of nymphs round him, and Aphrodite and Haephy are getting friendly with a satyr on the porch. Persephone knows, somewhere at the back of her mind, that Aunt Hes has gone to find Ma, but she is already through the house and halfway down the walk. As she crosses the boundary of Pa's enchantment, designed to keep the mortals out, she stops to take a breath. Out here, past the barrier, she can feel him. 

He's here. 

There's some trees across the way from the ranch, where they all used to run as kids, and as she steps amongst them, they bend their branches to greet her like old friends. She reaches up to stroke their leaves, and then a cool breeze ruffles her hair and the trees shiver with her. Away from the lanterns, there's only the moon to light the way but she treads surely, because these are her friends and they're protecting somethin' very dear. A twig snaps ahead of her, and then he's there, standing before her, half in shadow. 

"Hades," she says, her voice catching. "What you doin' here?"

He used to sneak up sometimes, when they were young and seeing one another seemed like the most important thing in the world. Now she wonders if something is wrong. 

"Hades?" she says again, when he doesn't speak. She wants to touch him, suddenly, but he's so still that she can hardly move either. 

"Just wanted to see ya," he says eventually, so quiet that she ain't even sure she's heard him. "Figured my brother would be having his party same as usual."

Persephone chuckles - of course he knows about Pa's little dig - and steps a little closer, seeing as he's froze.

"How did you - did you bring the car?"

"Hermes ran the train. Didn't want to bring the car here."

Persephone makes a note to have a word with her brother, who she saw only yesterday, and who could have warned her at the very least. As it is, she ain't sure now what to do with her husband. Her husband who has left the down below, gone further than the station, waited for her in a moonlit clearing like they're young again and have nothing to lose. 

This ain't Hades. He's never been the reckless sort.

"Well," she says, cos she has to say something. "I can't say it ain't a surprise, lover."

It's a warm night and he's slipped off his coat, laid it at the foot of one of the trees. His collar is loose and his sleeves are rolled - he's never been able to really stand the heat of summer. In the half light, she can't see the damn wall tattoo on his arm. She hates that tattoo. 

But oh gods, how the silence stretches out, cos he's waitin' for her to say a thing and she won't. Not this time. She's always the first in with the words, and she needs to be better than that. 'Sides, he's the one that's come up here. He's got this far, he can go a little further. 

"Will ya come and sit?" he says, waving his hand at the coat, and she realises he's laid it out, not just thrown it down. And there's a bottle too, restin' in the roots. 

It's all very polite as she sits down, leans her back against the tree, and Hades sits opposite. He don't touch her, but that's okay cos she ain't very sure that she wants him to. They're on better terms than they been in years but that don't mean anything yet. Only that they're gonna try. He promised her that. 

And she will too, which is why she turns down the whisky he offers her, and enjoys his surprised grin as he snaps his fingers and turns it into soda instead. 

"How is everyone?" he asks, sipping at his lemonade. "My brother tryin' to get one up?"

"Always. And Aunt Hes says she's gonna kick your ass."

Hades' face twitches, and his tongue worries the corner of his lips. Persephone follows its path with half closed eyes. 

"Hestia's always been about to kick my ass for somethin'," he says eventually. "Ain't hardly a new thing."

"She only does it cos she cares."

"About you, maybe. Ain't seen her for years."

"You've hardly been rolling out the welcome wagon, lover. Can't blame folks for stayin' away if you growl at 'em every time they drop by."

"Hermes comes."

"Hermes doesn't have a choice."

Any jesting that was in Hades' voice dries up quick, and he says, "You come. Guess you don't have much choice either."

Gods, the most honest talk they've had in centuries and it’s under a tree right outside Pa's place, where anyone could find 'em. At least they ain't yellin' yet.

"That's where you're wrong," she says, and puts out a hand. His beard scratches her, but she hooks under his chin, lifts his downcast head. His dark eyes fix on her and she understands. He's beggin’, pleadin' for her to take a step here, take charge. He's always been lost like this. His words dry on his tongue. 

"I made my choice, lover, remember? Back in the garden. Made it long ago."

"But-"

"Enough of this. Ain't goin' over the same old ground again. I'm sick to goddamn death of it."

He lifts a hand and circles hers with cool, broad fingers. His calluses scratch at her too but she don't mind them. Especially when she sees what he’s done. 

It ain’t just that she can’t see his tattoo. It’s gone. The god damn ugly wall tattoo that he’d appeared with one autumn, so damn proud of it like he expected her to be pleased too. It ain’t his only tattoo, but she has no quarrel with the others. Only this one, and more specifically the damn wall. 

But it is gone. All she finds is cool, pale skin. 

“Oh, lover,” she whispers, cos there’s a lump in her throat that she can hardly breathe round. “You do this for me?”

He makes a sound that could be a yes – seems he can’t speak either – and then another, softer, as she brings his wrist up to her mouth and kisses the vulnerable skin there. She holds it tight, and feels his heart beating under her lips, and hears his ragged breathing, and feels the first tears run down from her eyes and slide onto his fingers, his hands. 

_Gods._

As she begins to sob, he moves, slips his hand away and she can’t look at him because – because it has been too long, cos this isn’t how they are with one another. She weeps her tears in private and she is sure he does too. 

But when his arms come around her, well. What can she do? She puts her face in his chest, feels his fingers in her hair, and they sit awhile as she weeps some more. His fingers are soothin’, no denying it, and aside from her noise, she can hear the music from Pa’s party, and wonders if Hades is hearin’ it too. It ain’t the time, and it ain’t the place, but here they are anyway, and if she wasn’t crying then she’d certainly be laughing. Hades has always picked his moments. 

“C’mon now, lover,” he murmurs. “C’mon now.”

She doesn’t know what he’s asking for, and she ain’t sure that he does either, but he is trying. Gods, he’s trying so hard, at this place he hates.

Persephone reaches up and stills his hand in her hair, and he flinches, like she is gonna push him away. But she sits up, catches him off guard, and takes his face between her hands. He gazes at her, those eyes so guarded, and then she kisses him. The beard is new, since the last time she kissed him proper like this, and she ain’t too sure she likes it, but that doesn’t matter. Maybe they’ll have a future after all where she does get a say about things like that. Still, she curls her fingers at his ears and kisses him some more, and though he hesitates, he’s soon kissing her back. 

His mouth is sweet, like lemonade, like a spring breeze, and she kisses him till she can’t breathe. When she breaks away, his mouth is red and she touches it gently. Only her lipstick, staining his moustache a little, blood red. This is her mark. He is hers. 

“Lover,” he gasps, his fingers wrapped in her skirt. “I didn’t – didn’t come here to-”

“I know.”

“Just needed to see ya,” he repeats, as though she won’t remember.

“I know.”

He looks down at his bare arm, and takes her hand, placing it on there. 

“For you,” he says simply.

“A fine start,” Persephone says, squeezing gently. “And being here. A fine start.”

It is a fine start. The kiss is a fine start.

“We got work to do,” she says. “You ready to do it with me?”

“Here aren’t I?” he whispers, lying down in the roots of the tree and holding out his arms. When did he get so bold? She lays down beside him and lets him hold her, and when it gets cold, she pulls his coat up over them both. 

And no one comes looking, cos Pa’s damn parties don’t mean a thing in the end, and Persephone is pretty sure that Aunt Hes knows where she has gone, and who she is with. 

So she lays a little longer at her husband’s side as he finally relaxes beneath her weight, and when she wakes up in the early morning to the sound of the party winding down, Hades is gone, but he’s left his coat tucked real tender around her shoulders. 

A fine start. 

And all they can really do is try.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had a lovely time with this little trilogy, even if this one got out of hand length wise. I am so, so, so in love with these characters.


End file.
